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30 April 2015

Polish number 3 from the new Essence the Gel nail polish line is this beautiful peachy orange called Indian Summer. Again the formula is spot on. 2 coats and you are good to go. It dried quickly and you can see how glossy this is in the pictures. It's such a lovely colour.

I am seriously considering just sticking with Essence polishes for a while. I am really impressed with these polishes both for the formulas and the colours. The last Essence polish I bought was Black is back and that is well over a year ago. I just wasn't seeing colours that I needed. I have 5 or 6 more polishes on my list to buy from the Gel nail polish line (I tried to buy them already but the stand was completely wiped out when I got to it)

If you are thinking you've seen a polish just like this on my blog before you'd be right. This is incredibly similar to Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Peach of Cake. Peach of Cake is more orange but honestly it's hard to tell on the nail.If you have one you probably don't need the other.

Indian Summer costs €1.79 and it is available in Penny's and pharmacies now.

29 April 2015

Finally I've found a yellow nail polish with a good formula! When I took this out of the packet I thought it would be swatched and then left to the back. Higher end brands struggle with yellow nail polish so I assumed that this would need a good 4-5 coats. It's a pastel yellow after all so you'd expect a good amount of difficulty.

I love this polish. It's easily in my top 2 from the 10 that I've tried so far from the gel nail polish line. I have on 3 coats. The formula is great, it's nice and smooth and it doesn't drag at all.The dry time is pretty good too. I don't even care that the colour doesn't suit my skintone. Love is in the Air looks gorgeous on its own but it will make such a pretty base for nail art. I love yellow nail polish so I am thrilled to have this.

Again I didn't bother with a topcoat so you could see how glossy these are on their own. If you are looking for a nice yellow polish then I would really recommend trying this one out. It's a lovely bright colour but it's not too in your face. I don't think I can really convey how impressed I am with this polish.

Love is in the Air costs €1.79 from Penny's and selected pharmacies. It should be available in stores now.

28 April 2015

For this weeks Twinsie Tuesday theme we were supposed to be inspired by our car. I thought I'd do something a bit different and I based my manicure on the Irish bus system, Bus Eireann. It made for a more interesting manicure than doing a regular plain polish . The logo for Bus Eireann is the Irish red setter dog so I included that on the accent nail.

I only used 3 polishes for this manicure. The Red is Max Factor Red Passion, the Orange is Zoya Paz and the White is NYC Pinstripe white. I free-handed the whole thing and I topped it all off with a glossy topcoat.

27 April 2015

I was recently sent 10 of the new Essence polish from their "the gel nail polish" line. They look exactly like the colour and go range, from the shape of the bottle to the wide brush, but there are some noticeable differences in the formula and finish. I'll be popping up the swatches over the next week and a bit (they all really deserve their own post. Doing them all in one would be incredible long)

The first polish I have is 05 Sweet as Candy. I have on 3 coats and it is almost 100% opaque. If you don't mind a tiny bit of visible nail line then this is perfect. Polishes like this are supposed to be sheer, they are mostly used as a base for french manicures or just a "my nails but better" colour. I tend to use sheer pinks for jelly sandwhiches. This is more pink than my only other sheer pink also from Essence called "Cotton Candy". I like Sweet as Candy a lot, I think the colour looks nice against my skintone. It dried quickly and it is insanely glossy. I didn't bother with a topcoat but you'd never think it. Use this over a basecoat. I find it looks more even and not as sheer as it does without a base. I don't reach for sheer polishes too often but I am nearly done with Cotton Candy so clearly I use them more often than I really thought.

Despite being a gel nail polish, you don't need a lamp. I think they dried just as quick as a regular polish. They have a topcoat and basecoat in this range but I think I'll do a wear test on them before I review them just to see if they make a difference.

There are 46 colours in this range which is incredible! Each polish costs €1.79 and you should be able to find them in Penny's and pharmacies now.

24 April 2015

One of the latest Sally Hansen products to be released here is the 18k Gold Hardener. Now this confused me a bit when I first got it. Apparently you can use it as on your bare nails as a hardener with the gold flakes just adding a little sparkle to your nails. The way I like to use it is as a regular topper over a dark polish. My nails have been weak lately as I've started to bite them a lot so excuse the ring finger. I had to shorten them all to match it a bit better.

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon manicure in 641 Belle of the Ball. I added on a coat of the 18k gold hardener. I finished with a coat of the Sally Hansen gel shine 3D topcoat (review on this coming soon!)

I am a big fan of gold toppers and whilst I cannot say whether or not this strengthened my nails, it did looked beautiful over Belle of the Ball, It really comes alive in the sun and under florescent lighting. It dried so quickly too. I was able to add on my topcoat after 2-3 minutes (I gave it extra time just to be on the safe side). It looks so much more vibrant in person, the gold sparkles a lot more than it shows in the pictures.

The Sally Hansen 18k Gold hardener costs €9.99 and it is availble nail in selected pharmacies.

23 April 2015

Today I have one of the polishes from the Essence Cinderella Collection. This is 04 Watch out lady Tremaine. I don't think I have seen the entire movie so I'm not quite sure what's going on with that name to be honest.

Here I have on 2 coats of Watch out Lady Tremaine. It's quite an opaque polish. It is a frost so you can see all of the brushstrokes and flaws really well which isn't pretty. I have to say the colour does not suit me at all. I don't like the finish and even with a steady hand I struggled to get this to look decent on me. I wouldn't say this is a must have from the collection. Essence have so many other polishes with better formulas so maybe skip this one.

21 April 2015

I don't have any scented nail polishes so I went with a flower design instead. I never got into the scented nail polish trend, I always topcoat my nail art and even my regular polishes and that masks the scent anyway, It seemed silly to buy one just for the sake of it.. Granted if the colours were nice I wouldn't have a problem buying one. I just wouldn't get one for the scent alone.

I started off with 3 coats of Barry m Papaya. Then using a dotting tool I added on the various flowers.:Raspberry- Catrice Raspberry fields foreverGreen- Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 671 MoheatoPurple- Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 375 SGT PreppyYellow/Beige- China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

I topped it all off with Essence Satin Matt topcoat in Matt about you!

20 April 2015

I picked out an oldie for today's post. I loved reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's definitely my favourite book written by him. I did this some time last year after reading the book but I never got around to posting it. I love the way it turned out so I didn't want to leave it and forget about it so here it is!

I used one of my absolute favourite nail polishes, Misa Bourbon on the rocks, as my base, This is 2 coats, Then I sectioned off the nail using striping tape. I added Catrice Goldfinger and again I let that dry before moving on the to next step. I then added on some more striping tape and filled in the gap with Colors by Llarowe Twinkle Twinkle little star. I topped it all off with a glossy topcoat.

As you can sort of see in the picture below, I based this manicure on the book cover. I had originally bought the book with the film cover (seen here) but they sent out this one by mistake, I actually prefer this one so I'm delighted that I got it.

14 April 2015

Today we have something a bit different. The theme for today was Watercolour nails but I ended up doing a Watermarble instead.Watermarbles are not my thing but it was fun to give it a try for this weeks Twinsie Tuesday challenge. I picked out some Spring-ish colours so it would be nice and bright. I had to redo my middle nail and I completely forgot to add on my base before I stuck it in the water so that's why you can see my nail line. Rookie mistake!

For my base I used Sally Hansen Miracle gel in 110 Birthday Suit. Once that was dry I used Barry m gelly hi shine in Papaya and from the regular nail paints range I used Pink Flamingo for the watermarble. They worked pretty well together but I wish it was brighter. Despite it bubbling on my index finger I think it turned out nice enough. Clean up wasn't too bad seeing as I used lighter colours.

13 April 2015

This is the ,last polish I have to show ye from the Essence I <3 Trends release. This is another polish from the Pastels section called 03 I'm so Fluffy. The formula on this is ok. It's a bit thinner than the rest so you need 3 thick coats for full opacity. It dries so quickly so take it handy with the brushstrokes or else it will end up looking patchy. It's lovely pinky peach colour with a matte finish.

In the first two pictures I have a topcoat on just so you can see what it's like glossy. I'm so fluffy is a great colour. As it leans more pink in real life I find it to be much more flattering on my skin than the likes of Barry m Peach melba which is a pure peach shade.

Here I have the same swatch but without a topcoat. You can see it has a lovely matte finish to it. The main reason I topcoat my polish is to help with longevity. I haven't worn these for long without a topcoat so I can't say for sure if they chip easily or not. I have gotten a good week of wear with a topcoat and it didn't chip on me at all.

10 April 2015

This manicure came about by pure accident. I was painting my nails and I just started adding on stripes of colour. I got about halfway across when I thought so darker colours would look interesting, especially if they went in a different direction. I didn't have any striping tape to hand so I freehanded the stripes using a thin brush. They aren't perfect but you wouldn't really see half of the mistakes unless you were looking at them up close.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Miracle gel in 110 Birthday suit. Once I had those 3 coats on and dry I starting adding on the stripes.

I topped it off with a clear topcoat to blend the colours together and to add a nice shine to it. If you have a fairly steady hand you can easily do this. Even if you make a mistake you can cover it with the next colour. By the time you have a few colours added on you won't even notice it!

Another of the products I was sent from the Born Pretty Store is the Orange scented cuticle oil. I have used this almost daily for the last fortnight, Cuticles need a lot of maintenance so I apply this before I paint my nails, after I paint them and after I remove the polish.I use this for swatching and for my own day to day manicures. During the day I'll swipe it on if I think of it so it's pretty consistent care throughout the day.

I have to say for the price this is a pretty good cuticle oil. It sinks in nicely and it gives an instant boost to my cuticles making them look nice and smooth,. It really takes the dryness out of them. I do need to top it up with a hand cream in order to keep them looking good. That being said it's a great oil and it seems to be doing a lot of good for my nails.

I have the Orange scented oil and it smells lovely. You do need to twist the bottom before you apply and I would advise taking it handy. I needed a good 15 twists the first time I used it. I made the mistake of over-twisting it and I got way too much oil on the brush. I'm not normally a fan on the brush tips but this works well enough in spreading the oil around the nail without it being messy or spilling everywhere.

For $1.79 I would definitely recommend giving this oil a try. There are other scents in this range.. Each little bottle contains 8ml of product. As it is an oil a little goes a long way. I have a good few weeks left of use in my bottle which is great considering the amount of times I use it a day.

08 April 2015

Today I have a Born Pretty Store review for ye. Technically this is supposed to be an eyeliner brush but I've been using it for cuticle clean up. It's the perfect shape to get about your cuticles leaving a nice clean line.

I've been using this for the past fortnight now and it's really good. It fits my nail perfectly and removes the excess polish without ruining my nails. It's definitely comparable to the Elf brush that so many polish bloggers rave about . The brushes cost $1.94 each which is great as they will wear down after a couple of months so they can be replaced easily and at a low cost. I'd definitely recommend this brush. The handle is good and long so I can dip it into the nail polish remover without a problem. A clean up brush is essential after painting your nails so the cheaper they are the better. There is no need to spend a heap of money on one.

07 April 2015

Back to my least favourite nail art process. Gradients are messy and rarely turn out well on my nails. I do think they look good on other people and some are really beautiful but it doesn't work for me. I take no joy out of doing them, especially when you are left with the horrendous cleanup to do afterwards. I still want to get the hang of them so I try to give it a go every once in a while.

This was the only thing that came to mind when I thought of a seasonal opposite manicure. I have to say this wasn't too bad to do. I started off with Orly Liquid Vinyl. This is 2 coats. Once that had dried I sponged on Catrice Marilyn and Me. I topped it all off with a coat of Sally Hansen's Miracle gel topcoat. I love black and red together, they really compliment each other.

Check out the other Seasonal Opposite manicures down in the links below:

06 April 2015

My current nail files have just burnt out after a good few months of heavy use. The Born Pretty Store sent out their 4 pack of nail files for review so I'm just getting around to trying them now. These are quiet a high grit (120/1250) so it takes no time at all to file down my nails. I tend to prefer high grit files as they last longer and they can deal with my nails without breaking them.

I can use all of these files without a problem but I tend to use the curved ones more often on my fingers seeing as I have a more curved nail shape. It allows me to get into the sides of my nails to even them all out. I have used these a fair bit already and there is not a bother on them. They don't look used at all. These should last me at least until the end of the year but more than likely well into the next year.